利用过夜地粪便估计白马雪山黑白仰鼻猴种群大小和组成

介绍了应用过夜地粪便来估计白马雪山黑白仰鼻猴群大小和组成的一种方法。该物种以单雄多雌单元和全雄组的形式在树上过夜。粪粒根据其大小可分为3种类型成年雄性的(最大)、成年雌性的(中等大小)和未成年个体的(最小)。2000—2001年,搜集了滇西北白马雪山国家级自然保护区北部南任村(99°04′E,28°34′N)附近黑白仰鼻猴群每个季节2个过夜地的粪粒。根据2001年11月猴群通过开阔地的数据来确定猴群组成。每个季节,由于单雄多雌单元的成年个体数与其粪粒数正相关,所以二者回归直线的斜率可以看作是每个个体每晚的平均排便量。由于该物种的栖息地主要为高山峡谷,而且能见度较低,因此,利用过夜地粪便比以前通过猴群活动痕迹来估计猴群大小和组成相对准确、可靠。从估计成年雌性个体数的角度看,利用粪粒来估计种群大约有9·4%的偏差。导致偏差的可能原因有杂草和灌丛对粪粒准确计数的影响、个体排粪率的差异以及成年雄性最小粪粒与成年雌性最大粪粒的混淆等。该方法适应于栖息地和主要食物与本文研究种群相似的其他种群。

Group Size and Composition of Black-and-White Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) Estimated by Faeces of Sleeping Sites at Baima Snow Mountain

This study was designed to introduce a new method of estimating group size and composition of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti ) on the basis of faecal amount at sleeping sites at Mt. Baima Nature Reserve. The monkeys spend nights in the form of one-male, multi-female units (OMUs) and all-male units (AMU), and their faecal pellets can be classified into three categories: adult males (the largest), adult females (moderate) and immatures (the smallest) based on their size. Total pellets were counted under sleeping trees used for two nights at Nanren village (99°04′E, 28°34′N, northwest of Yunnan Province, China) in each of four seasons in 2000- 2001. Moreover, data on group composition were collected when the monkeys were passing through an open gully in November 2001. Since the number of adults in OMUs shows a positive significant correlation with the amount of pellets amount in each season, the mean number of feces produced per night per individual is the slope of the regression lines. Thus, group size and composition can be relatively reliably and accurately estimated by the faeces under trees compared with the previous methods of estimation, including the use of monkeys' activities and tracks such as broken branches on steep slopes, in deep gorges and under lower visibility. The use of pellets for population estimates displayed 9.4% deviation in regards to population size of adult females. Some causes of the bias were also discussed. The method might be applicable to other monkey groups of this species if their habitats and main foods are similar to those of the study group.